'World's longest check in': Virgin Australia passengers endure 'busiest day of the year'
Passengers ready to fly home after the holiday season were faced with long queues at Sydney airport on Tuesday, with lines stretching outside the terminal doors.
Photos showed Virgin Australia was overwhelmed with passengers trying to make early flights home, however other carriers: Tiger and Jetstar, were seemingly unaffected.
The delays were reportedly attributed to the large amount of passengers returning home from their Christmas and New Year break.
Virgin Australia described January 3 as one of the busiest days of the year to fly.
“Guests travelling today are encouraged to arrive early at the airport and allow extra time to check-in during this peak travel period,” the airline tweeted on Tuesday morning.
Passengers took to Twitter to vent their frustrations during the delays.
Aurelie Pankowiak described her experience in the "World’s longest check in line" as "record breaking".
“Not cool Virgin. We are 3 lines deep and still didn’t make it on to the line inside the terminal. Not Happy!” another wrote online.
A Virgin Australia spokesman told Yahoo7 Sydney Airport had confirmed it was business as usual as of Tuesday afternoon.
The spokesman said the delay was a result of a cruise ship docking on Tuesday morning, which saw an influx of travellers arriving at the terminal.
The cruise passengers combined with business travellers returning to work led to some delays, the spokesman said.
He said Virgin Australia was staffed to full capacity on Tuesday to cope with the high demand.
"Today is one of the busiest days of the year for travellers returning from holidays which has resulted in delays at our check-in counters at Sydney Airport this morning," the spokesman said.
"Each of our check-in counters are fully staffed and we are working hard to have guests on their way as quickly as possible.
"During peak travel periods we encourage guests to check-in online, arrive at the airport early, and listen out for announcements made in the terminal."
